


Anger

by elumish



Category: Stargate - All Series, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Atlantis, Episode: s05e01 Search and Rescue, F/M, relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 21:39:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3705503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elumish/pseuds/elumish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carter was angry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anger

Carter was angry.

Jack didn’t know the last time he had seen her that angry because, truth be told, Carter rarely got angry. Irritated, annoyed, frustrated, so damn intelligent that nobody could keep up with her, but rarely truly angry. So he kept his seat and let her pace back and forth in her house, where he was “visiting” after his meeting with Landry and the IOA.

“This is absurd.” She threw up her hands and kicked the legs of one of her chairs, which moved it exactly nowhere. “They said they want someone with a different skill-set? Do they even know what my skill-set is? And what are they looking for, anyway? The ability to fill out paperwork slightly faster? Nobody can do that when you’re constantly worried about being killed. You of all people should know that.”

And with that, she looked at him accusingly, like she was expecting him to start arguing. “I told them to keep you on. They went over my head.”

She grimaced at him. “What does that mean, over your head? You _are_ the head.”

“IOA trumps Homeworld Security when it comes to position placements.” Unfortunately. “They’ll give you another leadership position, probably either research or, if we can swing it, a ship. They’re working on the Phoenix—we can probably get you on that.”

Some of the anger drained from her face, then reignited, like she was determined to be angry. “They’re my people, Jack. _McKay_ said he respected the work I was doing. How am I just supposed to leave them behind?”

“You’re not leaving them behind; you were forced out. And from all accounts, Sheppard is qualified to run the place. He’ll keep them safe.”

She looked like she wanted to say something else, then snapped her mouth shut over it, kicking the chair leg one more time. “I know,” she muttered finally. “Did I screw up my command that much?”

“Hey, come here.” She looked at him, and he opened up his arms to her. It took her a second, a second where she visibly fought with herself, with the idea of going into the arms of a superior officer, and then she walked over and curled up against him on the couch, burying her head against his chest. “You didn’t screw up your command. You did a damn well better job than I did running the SGC, facing worse odds.”

Carter looked up at him with the same expression she always wore when he in any way insinuated that she was better than him, like she didn’t believe anyone could be better than him. Or perhaps she didn’t believe that she could be better than anyone. The first was reaffirming, the second discomforting. Because after all she’d done, all she’d accomplished, she still didn’t see herself as the person that she really was. She knew she was brilliant, knew she could accomplish what she set out to do, but she didn’t seem to realize that it was enough.

Of course, if she did, there was a chance she might end up like McKay, and that was not a road he would ever would to go down. 

What was still a miracle to him was that he could hold her in his arms—that she let him. That he could spend time with her without worrying about them being reported to the higher-ups. The rumors were gone, and even if they came back, the president and the Joint Chiefs knew that they needed Carter more than they needed the mess of firing a high-ranking officer for fraternizing with a superior officer. 

Finally her jitters stilled, and she pressed her lips against his throat, her attention shifting. “There are better things for us to be doing than you listening to me complain about my career.”

“Like what?”

Her lips trailed up to the corner of his, and then she smiled and said, “I’m sure, between the two of us, we can think of something.”

And they did.


End file.
